'for free'

Oh no, no, no!

I read an article today in which someone talked of selling land 'for cheap'..

That has to be the end of civilisation as we know it

Could be because fun is a noun and enjoyable an adjective , doh ! Imagine saying "so enjoyment" ......that's the equivalent of " so fun ".

Yes indeed!!!

And for using lots of exclamation marks!

Certainly not! Pedants' Corner is for serious nit-picking and taking umbrage!

Sorry, all these 'rants' sound like something that should be aired on an episode of 'Grumpy Old Women' - life is to short - chill out!

My pet hate is when I'm asked to CONFIRM my name...

In the latest GN newsletter I see " Pendants' corner - 'for free' "

They got the apostrophe right!

The disapprovers of 'so fun' will like this from Noddy (NODE New Oxford Dictionary of English, 1998) under "usage":
"The use of 'fun' as an adjective meaning 'enjoyable', as in we had a fun evening is not fully accepted in standard English and should only be used in informal contexts. There are signs that this situation is changing, though, given the recent appearance in US English of comparative and superlative forms 'funner' and 'funnest', formed as if fun were a normal adjective."

A hugely fun way of putting it, I'm sure you'll agree

repronted? hmmm

Thought someone would mention that. However, according to Chambers online dictionary, 'fun' is also an intrasitive verb, a transitive verb, and an adjective. All that also the case in the 10th printed edition (2006) and in the 1988 edition repronted 1990.

Do catch up at the back there!

This is me doing a bit of catchup on GN [bigtease emoji]

Well explained, Indinana.

I think the reason for the difference in 'It was fun' and 'It was enjoyable' is that 'fun' is a noun and 'enjoyable' is an adjective. You can't say 'such enjoyable' but you can say 'such enjoyment'. The adverb 'so' can modify an adjective, but not a noun. 'Such' is needed to modify a noun. Therefore:

So beautiful, so funny, so tragic .
Such beauty, such fun, such tragedy.

The difficulty lies with the evolution of the language (as ever! ), so that these days 'fun' is being used as an adjective - "It was such a fun day" - but we haven't yet completely caught up with this in our heads, and won't allow an adverb to qualify it, even when it's being used as an adjective.

Such fun!

I think you either accept that people are going to mangle the language you were brought up to speak, or you find it very annoying. I find it annoying. It takes all sorts...

Nobody ever said English grammar was consistent or even logical. We just know when it sounds wrong!

It was fun. Tick.
It was enjoyable. Tick.
It was so enjoyable! Tick.
It was so fun! Apparently no tick. Why not?

I had supper last night with a friend who has just returned from a convention in Los Angeles. She told me that one event was 'so fun' and I felt like screaming!

Americanisms must be as catching as the bubonic plague.

You did retrieve it. Write out must try harder 100 times!

Only nearly, j10? Rats! Another failure to chalk up.

Wow thatbags - can't believe you were nearly being pedantic about pedantry!

Or Cornish -isms, or Norfolk-isms, or.........

And we haven't even started on Scottish-isms yet, or Welsh-isms or Nothern Ireland -isms.

There are a lot of very easily irritated people about, 'twould seem.

Actually nitpicking is probably right. As you were with your nitpicking. #pedantryforfree!

I think I was thinking of a grammarian rather than a pedant.